


Teamwork makes the dream work

by Newestnewgirl



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:53:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 15,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25581646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Newestnewgirl/pseuds/Newestnewgirl
Summary: You (reader) are daisys sister and accidentally take some of those contaminated fish oil pills.  This is your journey with the team.
Kudos: 3





	1. Testing testing, 1,2,3

**Author's Note:**

> I haven’t written a fic in a reeeeeally long time so pls don’t mind not great fic writing I guess

You picked up the shell you left behind. You felt some power coursing through your veins. You kind of expected this. I mean, You had heard what it did in the news and then when your doctor said That you should start taking fish oils, You sought out this brand. It was done in a sort of “this would be crazy!” But you thought they had recalled all of the contaminated bottles, but that theory just proved untrue.

you shoved your bed over a little bit and flipped up an old wood board of the floor. You always kept a shoebox of your things from my past like in there. Trinkets and charms from my old parents, a few photos of you and skye. 

You took out the weird phone thing skye gave you when she said goodbye. “Only in case of emergency” she said. And that she was going to be an agents somewhere. Silly you thought real estate agent, but by the looks of this thing, you bet it could stretch across galaxies. Maybe it actually can. 

You flipped it open and stared at the screen. You typed in fish oil and left it at that. You were willing to bet she’d know how to find you and what it meant. You slipped it in your pocket, taking as much space as my old bedazzled flip phone. You’re glad skye finally has something for herself other than that van. You want her team to be a family for her. 

A few hours later, once you closed all the floors and cleaned up all your weird casting thing (wtf even is that by the way? Took for.ev.er to get off the hardwood floors you just redid) you heard a knock on the door. When it opened you saw skye, and then an ear piercing sound. Like everyone was yelling. Except some part of you knew their outside words weren’t matching what you were hearing. Well, more like you heard everyone say two things. And it was too much. 

You wrapped my hands into my ears and coiled up onto the ground. A big strong black man scooped you up and skye brushed by, filling a bag with your stuff. You closed your eyes, but before that, you saw her shove the small bottle of fish oil into her pocket. When you closed your eyes, the noise ceased, and you just heard what I believe they were actually saying.

You woke up in a weird futuristic tube that was surprisingly comfortable. You saw three people standing around: skye, the big black man, and a British lady in a lab coat. What the fuck is going on? 

They didn’t notice you were awake so you stared at them. The words you heard from them all didn’t match what was coming from their mouths. You’ve gotten quite good at lip reading through the years. You saw the bag of my stuff on the ground and longed to hold it. 

Looking from one person to the next was dizzying. Of course you recognized skyes voice and it was loudest when you focused your stare at her. The British lady sounded British, and the big black man (Mack maybe?) sounded strong and confident. British lady was stressed and Mack was unsure about having me here. 

“She’s awake!” The lady said and opened the pod. “Hello? Y/n?” 

When the pod opened you could hear all the noise again. their voices and their inner voices? Maybe it’s their thoughts. Shit. “Can I read minds?” You thought to yourself. Better not alarm anyone yet. 

“Yes?” You said and closed your eyes again. Now You could only hear what they were saying out loud. 

“Are you okay?” She asked. “Can you open your eyes?” 

“Yes and no” you said. And that was true.

“Okay” she said. “Does it hurt to open your eyes?” 

“It’s overwhelming. Too much noise” 

“What do you mean too much noise?” 

“Don’t say anything and just think” you said and opened my eyes and looked at them each. Time to test your theory.

You looked at the British one and read her mind (“is this really happening?” You thought). “No I’m not in physical pain” you said out loud and she looked shocked. She was wondering if you needed more drugs. You looked at Mack and told him “I’m not a threat” because he was wondering what my powers were. And something about an inhuman. You looked at skye and smiled. “Sk- daisy? I missed you too”

The three gaped at me. 

“Can someone fill me in on what an Inhuman is?” 

“Something- the fish oil- woke up special genes in you and you probably have powers” she said. “I’m Jemma” 

“Do you know what your powers are?” Mack asked. You closed my eyes again so it was quiet. It was hard to contemplate everything happening with everything happening.

“I think so actually” you said. You opened your eyes and looked at daisy. She told you it was safe to say, that you wouldn’t be locked up. How could she know you could read it though? 

“Call me crazy but mind reading? When I see you in my vision I hear your thoughts. When I close my eyes I only hear what you say out loud” You said and took a breath. “So when I first saw you guys in my house it was too much. But now everything’s foggy.” 

“That’s the drugs” Jemma said. “They’ll wear off soon” 

“Time for soul crushing sensory overload” You said with a tinge of sarcasm. 

“We’re here to help you with that” Jemma said and gave me a small smile. 

“Do you have to tell people? I think I want to know you with untamed thoughts first” You said. Mack looked at daisy to Jemma and back to daisy. She was thinking About our old home. 

“We don’t like strangers prying on our thoughts” Mack said, still very business. 

Daisy put a hand in Mack’s hand. 

“It will make her feel safe” and then she made a face. One that said remember what I told you. She was also thinking that. Probably for me. So you would know Mack would know. 

“Fine” he said. “You get until a mission or when we want to tell people. As long as there’s no funny business” 

“No funny business” You repeated like it was a two year warranty garuntee at a car dealership. You sat up on the table and picked up your bag of stuff. Daisy said she’d show you to her bunk. Looks like she went back to her birth name. When you were kids it was always back and forth between daisy and skye. You wondered if she was still like that. 

You followed daisy across dark halls into a small space. There was a wall with suits hung up nicely on it and then what looked like laundry chutes underneath it. There was another wall to the right that had a kitchen and island. On the third wall there was a bunch of cubes. Daisy slid one open and patted it. 

“This is a bunk. Completely soundproof and not actually as small as it seems. If you really want you can have another person sleep in here with you.” Daisy said. She opened an empty one in the middle of the middle. The first one she opened had trinkets and a shelf for clothes. Also fairy lights. Cute. 

“This one is for you” she said. You looked inside. Not too bad. “We have an actual base that we’re going to right now but for now this will have to do. I’ll show you to your room there too” 

“You’re letting me stay?”

“Of course” she said. “What happened is hard but we’re here” 

“You were the first” You said like a fact and a question. Testing the waters was always an important step when talking to daisy. She nodded. 

A few hours later, after you had a nice nap, you were introduced to the team. May found you weak looking and yo-yo found you intruiguing. Deke found you hot and coulson found you like a second daughter to him. Because daisy was like his daughter. 

After a week of settling into the lighthouse, as these people called it, and intense combat training, you opened the door to your room to see your bed full of lemons. What? 

You threw your towel down onto the chair and heard Mack’s voice over the speaker. Everyone to report to control center. Well. There goes your shower. 

You walked to the elevator with your joints wining and bones moaning. Work on your powers with daisy was hard, but combat training with may was even harder. And that’s including the fact you new what her next move was. 

You appeared all sweaty in my leggings and tshirt and crappy ponytail and everyone watched you walk up the stairs. You gave them an awkward wave. 

“We need to move fast” Mack said. “But we also need to strike at the exact right time” 

Everyone was listening intently. You had mostly gotten my powers under control, so you could clearly hear what he was saying and not be overwhelmed by all the thoughts. They were just in the background. Super easy to block out now. It’s amazing! 

“Y/n, are you okay to go in the field?” Mack asked me. Even with their thoughts in the background, you still knew the outrage everyone was thinking. After all, Its only been here for a week. You’re not even a certified agent yet. 

You nodded. 

“You and may are going to this hotel for two nights. Find out everything you can about this hotel and Mr and Mrs ignite. They are the targets.” He said. “When they transfer a box to another room, that’s your time to stop them. Don’t let the box in” 

On the quintet, you strapped yourself into a seat in the middle. You read mays thoughts but nothing much came of it. They were guarded, frigid, evenly paced. Someone must have told her. Normally people have overlapping tho it’s or not full thoughts. Yo-yo thought in fragments and Jemma thought in science and paragraphs. 

You knew may want one for talking, but you wanted to pull her guard down, to let you in. 

“So when I got back from our last training session I found a pile of lemons on my bed” you said. It was true. And weird. Even with her facing the window in the quintet you saw a slight smile upturn her mouth. She knew it was deke. 

Deke was actually pretty great. Really compassionate and surprisingly thoughtful, clever, and charming. You didn’t mind the occasional game of Mario kart with him (that you always won). 

So you know deke put the lemons on your bed but why? You stared intently at may again. That was dekes weird way of saying he likes you. Huh.

“Dekes from the lighthouse and I guess it was a custom there” she said simply. 

“Isn’t the base the lighthouse? Wouldn’t that be a custom for you too?” 

She thought her explanation and whether I could take it all. Deke was from the future and they changed that timeline. Still weird though. Shouldn’t he have ceased to exist then?

When you got to the hotel room, you sat on the bed. It would be fine sharing a bed with may, she doesn’t seem like the type of person to flail around at night. 

“So where’s the ignites room?” 

“Directly above us” she said. 

“Do we have a camera already set up?” 

She shook our head. And she thought: that’s step one of the test. 

Weird. So you guess you’re being tested. Maybe this whole hotel is a testing place, running finals for all agents. What if the people you’re up against are also agents? And if they win they pass and you don’t? 

“What’s The directors plan?” You ask. He wouldn’t send you guys in here without a plan. 

“Plant a camera and know when they’re going to move it. Then stop them” she said. She was reciting rehearsed lines. 

“And what about the box? The people?” You asked and rubbed your palms up and down your legs. The rhythm of it was calming. “Take the box and leave the people? Drag them back into their room? Or just escape?” 

“Slow down” she said each word calmly and steadily, with a surmountable break in between. 

“I guess this is a do whatever feels right in the moment kind of mission?” You said. May knew she couldn’t reveal anything else to you. Maybe she was supposed to reveal it was a test. Although, from what you heard learned last week, people are rarely good at controlling their thoughts. And dekes are so random it seems like he could be on shrooms like 90% of the time. Honestly, it wouldn’t even baffle you.

You sighed and let your back fall against the bed. It bounced slightly. 

“Room service” you said. “Dress up as room service and put a bug in their room” 

May nodded though she also took notes:   
\- one of the acceptable answers  
\- Likes to hatch a plan, use costumes instead of figuring out when they’ll be gone

“This way they’ll let us in and we don’t have to break” you said. Although, if you broke in they could just take the box. “Scratch the earlier plan, break in when they aren’t there and take the box” 

You sprung off the bed and went looking for something in one of the suitcases. You couldn’t bring extra clothes but you could bring three boxes of extra equipment. Although not all of it will be extra. 

You found a cable cord and went out into the balcony. You didn’t know if they were home yet so you needed to see in there. That way, you could also read their minds if they were. 

You found a mirror attached to a pulley and went out into the balcony again. You stood on the railing and put the three hooks up: one on the wall where you could stand, one on the wall on the bottom of their balcony, and one on the end of their balcony. You pulled the string and it moved the mirror around like a pulley. Once the mirror was in the right place, you looked at it. 

Through the window you saw a man and a woman, relatively young, around mid twenties. They were huddled around a computer and thinking about their mission: transfer the box. 

The window was cracked open halfway, and this is where the previous coil comes into play. You tossed it up through the window and it landed silently. Now you wait. 

“They’re going out for drinks at seven tonight” you told may. Now it’s just time to sit back and relax. 

When it was time, you stepped onto your balcony with may. You jumped up onto the railing and climbed up to the balcony. They had closed their window, but left the string in it, leaving you just enough space to weasel it open. May thought you were doing well for something you knew was a test. Why wouldn’t you want to pass? 

You kept the lights off and went through their luggage and turned their room upside down until you found the box in their pillowcase, supposedly hidden in plain sight. It worked well enough that it was the last place you looked (well that’s every place because who keeps looking once it’s been found, but that’s beyond my point). 

You brought it back to the balcony and heard gunshots in the courtyard. You looked and saw blue bullets being shot from one party to another. They had a familiar black box with them, too. 

You shrugged it off though, because they weren’t shooting at you, but you did move a little faster over the balcony and back to your room. You put the black box down on the hotel room desk. You thought you did pretty well and may didn’t necessarily disagreed. 

“Why didn’t you help the people in the courtyard?” She said simply. She was finishing my assessment. 

“Not my mission. You said black box and I got no updates or mission change” you said. “Weren’t shooting at us and obviously didn’t concern our mission”

She nodded. Now we just wait for Mack and the team.


	2. Fun and games

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After almost blowing your secret during a family board game, you make lemonade late at night with Deke.

It’s been two weeks since becoming an official agent of shield. It’s not as bad as you thought. So far you’ve only had small recon missions. And only a couple people knew about your powers (that you could see). 

In the common room you sat on the couch across from yo-yo. She was reading some book (like normal) and daisy was cooking in the kitchen. She always bakes. There’s never been a moment where there wasn’t some fresh baked good to snack on after a training session. 

You had just sat down when coulson strolled into the room, trailed by Mack and may. They didn’t look too serious, and were probably here for fun or chilling. Deke wasn’t too far behind them. 

“Let’s play a game!” Coulson said and closed his hands together. No one was opposed to the idea of fun and games, so we sat down at the table. Well, with the whole team, we shmooshed together. You sat directly next to deke, your chairs pressed together. If you moved even a smidge, your thighs would be pressed together. 

You dipped into his mind and saw he also noticed this, but instead of calmly observing (like you liked to think you did), he was freaking out. Wow, he was really crushing on you. 

Coulson set out code names on the table, a game where you have to guess the card the other person said. This would be an easy win your your team if you were guessing. You couldn’t broadcast your thoughts, so not necessarily the other way around. 

Mack waited for the teams to be settled before saying something. Daisy and Jemma were on a team with you so they wouldn’t have a problem with you using your skills. 

“Now wait” Mack said in his deep, calming voice. You shifted to face him and to push your leg up against Dekes. You knew he was enjoying it but also scared out of his mind. “This isn’t fair” 

“What do you mean?” Jemma said, looking right at you. She was really having fun with this. 

“We need to play a different game” he said and started to pack it up. 

“Why? You love this game, Mack” deke said. He does care. Deep down, under all of the slightly childish antics, there’s Dekes real self, who cares so much for his friends. His family. His nana and bobo? Jemma is a grandmother? What the hell? 

“The teams aren’t fair” he said and looked at me. It was Jemma, daisy, Elena and I against him, Coulson, deke, and May. 

“They totally are” Jemma said in her scientist and British manner. Go Jemma! 

Mack cleared his throat. He was willing Jemma to remember your mind reading power. Which was really funny, because you knew what he was thinking and not her. 

“If your pointing to y/n, we have the disadvantage, she’s the newest member so she doesn’t know our inside jargon” Jemma said. She’s so good at this she could be a lawyer. But it’s hard to imagine her anywhere but here. She seemed at home. 

Mack took a look at you and you told him with your eyes not to blow this for you. He seemed to get the sense that you were going to tell everyone soon from the look, which was honestly good enough. 

Once the game was finished (your team won, duh) you headed back to your room. Time for some greatly needed sleep. You stopped in your tracks. More gosh darn lemons! Deke must really be trying to get your attention, because they completely covered your bed. You pulled out a box from when you moved in here and started piling lemons into it. 

Dragging the box through a couple hallways wasn’t as bad as you thought it would be. The scraping sound wasn’t that loud, and from what you could tell, it was only bothering you. 

You ended up in the kitchen once again, boiling sugar and water to make a shit ton of lemonade. Before the water was even close to boiling, you felt a presence in the doorway. You couldn’t read them because you couldn’t see them, but you knew it was deke. He just gave off a very specific vibe, you know? 

“Nice pajamas” deke said. You turned to look at him. What he meant was “you look hot” 

You looked down at yourself: a chewie is my copilot tshirt and chewie pajama pants. Also yellow crocs, sport mode. In the glass reflection you saw yourself. Stringy, unbrushed dark brown hair that wouldn’t hold a curl to save a life. You had envied all the white girls in middle school who could curl their hair and have it stay all day, opposed to your curls barely lasting until you could thoroughly coat them with hairspray (and even that didn’t work). Your eyes were always lighter than daisys, but they were around the same shape.

You looked whiter then her overall, but it never really mattered. Surrounded by Asian families on the west coast was always hard because you weren’t Asian enough, and hanging with white friends in middle school was challenging because you rocked different colors and tanned faster (something you hated but they envied). 

You shook the sad memories of not belonging out of your mind. It didn’t matter here. What brought this team together was the fact they didn’t belong anywhere else anymore. Daisy knew she didn’t fit so she left in her van. And look where it brought her. It’s not like you stayed for much longer once she left. But she didn’t know that. 

You focused you mind back on deke, who was still staring at you from the doorway. 

“Oh um thanks” you said, acknowledging his compliment(?). He took some cautious steps over. He stopped and waited for an invitation. “You too”

He wasn’t wearing interesting clothes. Just grey sweatpants and a black long sleeve SHIELD shirt. He looked so hot in those. Literally everyone does. The shirt was similar to the ones they wore in Brooklyn Nine Nine during the jimmy jabs. Maybe uniforms like that turned you on because everyone just looked so damn hot. How is that even possible? It’s just a shirt! 

“Want to make lemonade with me? Someone left a ton of lemons on my bed, which is weird. But nice.” You said. You tacked on nice at the end because he was flying out of control. He just wanted to impress me? Maybe lemons were a sign of wealth or culture on the “lighthouse” he came from. 

He came closer, feeling more at peace. 

“Good weird?” He asked. You knew your answer would factor into our future. If you said yes, he’d know you were attracted to him too (which you very much were) and if you said no, he’d probably move on. He seemed respectful like that when he knew the boundaries. 

“Good weird” you said. He smiled a little bit. His thoughts turned to naming the lemons. 

You put elbow grease into your juicing, but also in your getting to know each other. I mean, you knew each other, but not too well. 

“Pass me George?” You asked and he passed you the lemon he had just sliced in half. 

“How did you know it’s name?” 

“This one just felt like a George, I don’t know” you said. That was a lie. You very much knew he named them all George. Every single lemon. Of which their was one hundred twenty six. This was going to be a lot of lemonade, that’s for sure. 

Soon the water was boiling, but it was (unfortunately) the only steamy thing in the kitchen. Although you had gotten to know deke better. His innovative mindset that kept him alive and well during incredibly hard times. You hadn’t opened as much as he did, but he knew bits and pieces from your “middle” life. That was the one after your weird ass childhood and before this whole agent thing you somehow got roped into. 

You had told him about your one bedroom apartment in New York, journaling as the sun rose, and failed attempts at a good job. You were born for broadway, but maybe broadway didn’t agree with you yet. Who knows, maybe someday you’ll try again. 

The lemonade was made and put in the fridge. You had to take out a couple trays of brownies to make all the containers fit, though. 

“Do you think daisy will be mad if we are these?” You asked. After all, he does know daisy better than you do at this point in her life. 

“No” he said simply. He wasn’t thinking solely about the brownies though. He was exploring the posibility that you would eat them together. “She makes them to share” 

You took him by the hand (a platonic gesture that turned into something both of you wanted to be more than that) and walked back to your room, to eat the brownies in peace


	3. Sketching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone has their hobbies: daisy bakes, yo-yo reads, and Mack tinkers. Deke starts to program a video game and you try to help him out.

“Seriously! Where does all this lemonade come from?” Coulson angrily asked the fridge. You knew where. Most nights, a few more lemons appeared on you bed and you put them into the box. When the box filled up, you drag them into the kitchen and make lemonade with deke. It’s a good routine, and dekes really fun to hang out with. 

You looked at deke on the couch writing code on his laptop. He was revamping mariokart. That was something you had also grown fond of. It used to remind you of playing with your uncle on his good days, but now it just reminds you of him at his worst. 

Deke looked up at you too and you snickered to each other. Another perk of the lemonade making was that it took up more and more space in the fridge and increasingly pissed everyone off. 

You happened to read his mind too. Well, it normally takes the back burner when your focused, so you turned it up a little. It took a lot of energy to keep your focus off of all the noise, so it was a relief when coulson left the room and you let dekes thoughts roam free in your head. It’s not like your sketch of people drinking poolside lemonade couldn’t wait. 

“I just want to keep the Mario kart basics the same, make the tracks different” he thought. It sounded like he was talking though, so you looked up frequently to make sure he wasn’t actually talking to you. Sometimes when you looked up, you could catch him staring at you. “I want to ask her someway to draw the courses but how do I do that? Will she even do it or will I embarrass myself?” 

You ripped out the page of people in Sunday’s and bathing suits on pool floaties to sketch a course for him. If he left you piles of lemons on your bed, you could leave him sketches to help along the way. Make them anonymous, like the lemons. 

You started sketching karts first. Maybe courses and character come later. You drew a motorcycle and Lola and a tricycle that resembled the zypher. 

Dekes thoughts turned up again and he wanted courses of cities and countryside’s and places other than the lighthouse and what he’d known before. 

In your room that night, you drew sketch after sketch of cities and boats and even a track for an amusement park. They were complex and yet held simple qualities, just pencil and paper but the pieces you drew had details, like the way the water flowed in the background of a bridge or a camera around the neck of a person on a ride. 

You got up from your bed, bones weary from sitting for so long. Why was it always the middle of the night when you needed to move around? You decided to go visit deke. 

In the hallways you took a left and then a right and three doors down was his room. Through the window, the blinds were open, as opposed to yours where the blinds were always closed. He wasn’t there. A slight relief washed over you. You didn’t exactly have a plan if he was, but at least you have the time now because he isn’t here. 

You took out a couple pieces of tape from you pink pajama bottoms. Everyone here dressed so darkly that you sort of fell in to fit in. But pajamas are where you kept that bright, cheery, part of you. Where you could hide your feelings and pain. Mask it all with bright colors and cheesy slogans May disapproves of. 

You rubbed the taped onto the corner of the first couple sketches and left them on the door. You rounded the corner and waited for him to come back. When he didn’t for a little while, you ran back over and decided to leave the whole sketchbook. It wouldn’t hurt and this way he’d know your identity without you saying it. 

You ran back to hide and watched the mirror in the corner for him to round the bend. You heard him whistling before you saw him. It was some futuristic song or something, because you didn’t recognize it. But then again, your music taste was basically broadway. 

Something was weird when you saw him. His manner seemed more upbeat and he was tossing a lemon up and down as he stopped at his door. He immediately recognized the sketchbook as yours and picked it up, leafing through. Then it dawned on him you could read minds. But he wasn’t embarrassed. 

You didn’t even need the mirror to see him smile as he got the last page, a simple sketch of the two of you with rolled up pajama sleeves and messy hair, making lemonade in the kitchen. 

He picked his head up and looked around and saw your reflection in the same mirror you were using to look at him. Well, you tried to convince yourself you only liked to look at him because that way you could read his mind, but he was definitely nice on the eyes. 

“Y/n?” He asked and you rerealized he saw you. Shit.


	4. Glasses and goodbyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Simmons figures out how to help with your powers, Mack sends you and the other inhumans into hiding for a little while. Or at least, until people stop looking for you.

“Y/n!” Deke called as you scampered back to your room. This is not how you planned things to go. “Stop! Wait!” 

You made it back before he did, and you closed the door. You didn’t bother to lock it because deke wouldn’t come in without asking. Hopefully. Lying breathless on you bed was embarrassing because you shouldn’t be this tired, but after a whole day of keeping other peoples thoughts out of your head was hard. Way too hard. 

This time, deke knocked twice before slowly opening your door. This reminded you of your aunt. She never came in without a knock (like your uncle), but nothing could stop her from entering your room. 

“Y/n” he said with his full breath capacity. “Why did you run from me?” 

“I don’t know” you mustered out with a discarded breath. 

“I thought we were friends. Friends don’t run from each other” he said with determination in his voice. He was dead set on figuring this out. You closed your eyes. It’s too much. It’s all too fucking much. 

“We are” 

“Then why did you run?” 

“I don’t know” 

“Yes you do” 

You peeked one eye open to see what he was thinking. He was not going to budge until he knew you were okay. Or better than okay. He was really here for you. 

“I said I don’t!” 

“Running from the answer?” 

“Fine I run. But so does daisy so-“ 

“I’m not talking about daisy” he said. He moved to your bed. You didn’t see it, but you felt your bed sink down where he sat and your feet slid towards him. He put his warm hand on them and the lemon on your bed. It rolled until you felt it’s weird lemon skin on your arm. 

He started thinking loudly. Well, he thought a scream first when you peeled your other eye open to see him. His face was reassuring. But you flinched and that’s what gave you away. 

He started thinking and you let it boom through your head. Maybe even echo, like a concert just for you. 

“It’s hard to talk about the past. I grew up on the run. But on the run from the Kree and the murder sprees” he thought for you. He was letting me in. But were you ready to let him in? You knew he was contemplating putting his hand higher on your leg, like perhaps on your thigh so instead of you letting him spiral you grabbed his hand and put it there for him. 

“Your sketches were great” he said out loud because you closed your eyes. “Can I use them in my game?” 

“Yeah” you said before fading away. You were in a weird transition between consciousness and sleep. You let deke pull the blankets over you and put the lemon in the box. It was getting full again. 

In the morning it was time to train. The mornings were always easier because you had a full nights sleep of support to hold back everyone’s thoughts. Maybe it’ll get easier. You sure hope it will, at least. 

You wrapped your hands and swung under a sparring ring. It was group training on fridays. And you were up against Mack. Great. 

He swung and you blocked. He swung and you blocked. He swung again and you blocked again, never making a new move of your own. 

“Counter attack me, y/n” he said in his deep, commanding voice. You sighed and assessed where he’d least expect it. You decided to swing kick his stomach and he blocked you. He took your leg and held you upside down. 

“Mack you know that’s against the rules” Coulson said with a disapproving tone. And yet, it was still so lighthearted. 

“Sorry” Mack said. “She’s not using her full capabilities and she should” 

“Can you please-“ you started to say before Mack cut you off. 

“She’s a mind reader and only blocks my next move” Mack said. There was the courtesy of slight surprise from the rest of the bunch but mainly everyone new. Deke had guessed last night with the drawings, Daisy and Simmons knew, Coulson looked fairly surprised but not doubtful. May knew from the test and yo-yo shrugged. 

“I don’t like that name” 

“But it’s what you do” 

“I just don’t like it” you said. And then even quieter you mumbled, “can you put me down now?” 

“Not until you use your full capabilities” he said. 

“She can’t when she’s upside down” Simmons said with a very concerned look on her face. “What has gotten into you?” 

He set me down on the floor and I lay there. 

“She doesn’t move” he said but you knew he didn’t think you were valuable enough to keep on the team. 

“Then wipe my memory and let me leave” you said to him. He looked down at you and you knew he couldn’t do that. Not yet, at least. 

“Go with Simmons. Figure something out” he said. You left. 

In the lab, the seat was cold as you let her take your temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate. 

“Is there something wrong?” She said. “Can you control your powers?” 

“I mean yes I can but it’s so draining” you said. You couldn’t do anything more than block because you had to shut down all the other thoughts to not curl up into a ball and cry. Or scream. 

“Has it gotten easier?” 

“No”

She paused to think. 

“Put these on” she said and handed you a pair of reading glasses. You did as you were told. She spent the next hour snapping things on and adjusting them. You had your eyes closed most of the time, the peace and quiet greatly needed. 

“Open your eyes and see if this works” she said. The glasses identified heat signatures and if they matched a humans, they dimmed or adjusted how they were perceived so the thoughts were quieter. Of course, you heard this all from Jemma, and it didn’t hurt and you didn’t have to try to shut it out. And even after all the snapping, the glasses were still considerably small. 

Mack called everyone into the main room. Everyone (including yourself) was wearing their boots and suit pants and the hot long sleeve shirts. Deke. He looked so good. Damn. Like business and duty all at the same time. Like I can have fun and I have a serious job all at the same time. He looked hot. 

Deke suddenly closed his eyes tight and squeezed his ears, dropping almost to the ground. Daisy helped him up. 

“What happened?” Mack asked him. 

“I heard y/ns voice in my head. It was so loud. Like she was yelling” he said. 

Mack looked at you with weary eyes. “You can do that?” 

“Apparently” you said and shrugged. “Sorry deke” 

“What did you hear?” Mack asked. Deke froze. Uh-oh. He must’ve heard you thinking about how hot he looked. 

“Just um- just like ...” he faded out before coming to his senses. “Wondering why you called us all here” 

“And just you heard it?” He looked around. No one else made any move to indicate they did. “Strange” 

You were back in your room packing for the mission. More like packing to go into hiding. Mack said people were looking to hunt in humans, so you, yo-yo, and daisy were going to some safe house for a couple weeks. Shouldn’t be too bad, right?

You heard a knock on the door and reached for your glasses. When you were alone, it was quiet and everything was nice. No more need to shut everything down when there was nothing to shut down. You saw it was just deke and put them back in their spot. You wanted to know what he was thinking, how he was feeling. 

“Don’t forget about me”

“Oh I could never” you said with a slight smile. Things have gotten flirty recently, and you weren’t complaining. 

“I came to help you pack” 

“Are you going to sneak a bunch of lemons into my bag?” 

“Only if you turn around” he said. “I um made sure the place had a lemon tree so you can make lemonade if you miss me” he said. He cared. And somehow he knew how much you would probably miss him. Even though you were in this weird in between place together, you were in it together. 

“Thank you” you said. You turned around to get more clothes and he strode over to your bag. He was holding a small package earlier, and you were willing to bet he was putting it in your bag right now, so you took extra time gathering up socks. Who knew it was so hard to hold twenty pairs? 

When you turned back to the bag, deke was sitting on your bed and moving his arms like he could magically make a snow angel appear without snow. There was no visible package in the bag but you knew it was there. It wasn’t in his hands anymore. 

He stood up to help you zip your bags (what a gentleman) and lingered once they were all zipped. 

“You know what I’ll miss?” He asked you. You expected him to say you, but he didn’t. “Daisys bakes goods” 

You scowled at him in mock anger. 

“You you what? Two can play at that game. I’ll miss Mack hanging me upside down. And I’ll miss the cold floors and-“ you kept talking but it was just meaningless words. You knew he was thinking really hard about kissing you. 

“I’ll miss someone too” he said and all of a sudden he seemed to be looking down at you and your bags in a very sexy way but he didn’t move. 

You put your face closer to his. “Really? Who?” 

“Well I could tell you or I could-“ he started but you knew where he was going with this. 

“Show me” you said, lifting your chin up so your lips were mere milliseconds away. 

“I totally just forgot you’re a mind read-“ he started but you cut him off. His lips were surprisingly soft for someone who was born in a world without chapstick. He pulled away startled. 

“You know I don’t like that word” you said playfully. Before the smallest of small innocent smiles could sneak onto you face, deke kissed you again. And somehow, it got better.


	5. Home sweet home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You settle into the safe house and have a late night chat with daisy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry If daisy feels off. I just strongly believe she’d have a soft spot for her sister (you, not that weird season seven stuff) and is definitely that one kid at sleepovers, lol.

Daisy opened the door to the beach house. The three of you peered inside. The wallpaper was a horrible faded flower print and the overstuffed, plastic covered sofas were green and white striped (what?). There was old photos and too many sculptures of chickens for the room to look like anything but a joke. 

“It looks” yo-yo said and cleared her throat and stepped in. 

“Quaint?” Daisy filled in. There was a slide on the side of your glasses to adjust how much their thoughts get through to you. It was pretty low right now and that was fine. 

“Yeah sure” yo-yo said in her almost raspy voice. “I would’ve said like a grandmas, but I don’t think I’d want to be that mean to my grandma” 

“Well I never met mine” you said and looked at daisy. Has she? 

“Me neither” she answered your question like you projected your thoughts again. If you did, she was handling it much better than deke did. 

You walked through the house and found the kitchen to have outdated white tiling and warm brown cabinets. At least it wasn’t carpet. Anything but carpet. 

The house had an open floor plan and was at least a mile away from other houses on this street. Discrete, but accessible to help. 

Up the hardwood steps, you peered I tot he three bedrooms. Their was only one bathroom, so you would have to tough it out and share one. There was a room with pink carpet and ship lack walls and a nice window against a seemingly handmade quilt. 

The second room had white carpet on all the surfaces (thank god not the desk though). Maybe it was some weird type of soundproofing the room. At least the blankets look fuzzy. 

The third room was seemingly normal. White walls and a not so bad looking bed, average storage space, and a desk with a bookshelf. There were plenty of books all around the room, stacked on each other and pushed up to the edge of the wall. 

“So who wants the carpet room?” Yo-yo asked from behind you. It wouldn’t be that bad, right? At least it will be quiet. 

“Look, deke, all the parts of the room are covered in carpet” you said and showed deke around on the camera. Jemma has figured out some way of face time that changed locations for both ends every minute and encrypted the information going both ways twice, so it was pretty safe. 

It had been a couple days of nothingness and you needed dekes cheery innocent optimism to cheer you up. Or just, you know, deke. 

You read his mind and he was thinking of phone sex. You made a squirming face and he blushed. 

“Didn’t realize you could read through the screen” he said. 

“Yeah well the glasses don’t see you a heat signature so it all comes through” you said and his mind went immediately back to phone sex. You figured now was as good a time as any to try to broadcast directly to him. 

“I’m not having phone sex anytime soon. We haven’t even had real sex yet, idiot” you thought really hard and focused it on deke. 

You heard daisy scream downstairs. 

“You should go” deke said and hung up. You made your way downstairs to see a dropped carton of eggs and her curled up with her hands over her ears. 

“What did you hear?” You asked her. Best to not incriminate yourself any more than you have to. 

“I barely remember, it was just so loud” she said and looked at the sad egg mess. You raised an inquisitive eyebrow and turned the dial up on your glasses. She totally got the whole phone sex thought instead of deke. 

“Oops?” You said. She just looked at you. She reaches out for your face and turned the dial down. 

“Who was that meant to go to?” She whispered like it was forbidden to talk about powers. 

“No one” you said and blushed. You hadn’t really even considered anything of the sort (well no, that was a lie. You just hadn’t given it any real or serious thinking) with deke. It was yet meant in a mock ashamed flirty way. You couldn’t explain it now, but it made sense at the time, at least. 

“Oh god!” She said. 

“What?” 

“My ears are still ringing” she said. “Is this how you feel all the time?” 

“Yeah” you said. “Before the glasses. But like think of that with multiple people. And then I got it under control but it’s so damn hard to do that all the time” 

“Oh and it was totally meant for deke, right?” She said and gave you a smile that said she was totally going to tease you for this like the big sister she was. 

“No!” You said way too aggressively to be convincing. 

“Uh-huh” she said, totally doubtful. 

“Oh just shut up already” you said an started to help her clean up the mess. 

Later that night, you lay awake in your bed, waiting for sleep to wash over you. No luck. It’s been a week and a half, and you called deke every day. You can’t play Mario kart with him here, but you can still talk. He makes it better. Less lonely. 

Although, it’s hardly lonely. Just boring. Well, that’s not completely true. You’ve taken up meditating and yoga and you’ve had more time to draw. Sometimes you get daisy to pose in ridiculous ways so you can draw her. 

The loneliness only kicks in at night, when you think about how in the day, all of your activities are practically meaningless. I mean, yo-yo has already reread all seven Harry Potter books, the counter is always filled with cake and bread from daisy, and you’ve filled a sketchbook or two. But what for? So you don’t die? Or get kidnapped? Those are always possibilities at any time. Why now are you all alone? 

When you go out, you have face changing masks so you don’t get recognized. It’s not so bad. Running on the beach is nice because you can just jump into the ocean as soon as your done. 

You pulled on the chain to the super old lamp and flipped through the sketchbook right next to your bed. It was half full with sketches of you and deke. All doing things you want to do with him. The first one is the lemonade making, and then there’s skiing (for no particular reason) and more and more. 

But right now, the only thing this notebook was helping you with was feeling lonely. You wandered downstairs to see daisy in the kitchen. 

“Oh for the love of god please tell me your not baking” you said. She turned around with a fresh pan of brownies in her hands. 

“Too late?” She said with a meek smile. You ate them together in silence for a while (separated only by different types of cake) until she started talking again. “How have you adjusted this fast?” 

“Adjusted to what? This weird ass clown house? I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this” you joked. It was too late at night to get real. But daisy was taking it there. She was always the kid who asked really deep questions right before you went to sleep at sleepovers and then no one slept because you were discussing “to be or not to be” or some shit. 

“Adjust to being an agent” she said. 

“It’s okay” you said. You learned early on that if you answered all her questions without giving her more to ask, the sooner the conversation was over. Don’t take this the wrong way though, you love talking to daisy, but deep questions about reality at three in the morning just isn’t your jam anymore. “Most things are pretty baffling” 

“You don’t seem baffled” she said. Her tone wasn’t even inquisitive, but somehow you knew she was expecting an answer. And that was without reading her mind.

“I believe the scientist when she tells me the way something works. I don’t need to know why as long as she knows why and I trust her. And I do” you said. It was true. You had weirdly grown to trust daisys team, and although it still felt like daisys team, you could see it one day being yours too. Maybe family even. 

“That’s smart” 

“It’s Simmons whose smart” 

“True” she said and paused, churning out another topic of discussion. “So nothing bothers you about any of this?” 

“Oh it’s absolutely soul crushing. One day I’m normal and then the next day it’s like the world decided my thoughts weren’t enough and gave me everybody else’s. But at a crazy loud volume.” You said. Hopefully this was enough of an answer to get her to stop asking because all of a sudden you were tired. 

“And agent life? Are you doing okay?” 

You nodded. She was moving in from life and big sistering you. “I have my coping mechanisms. Drawing-“ 

“And deke” 

You scowled at her. 

“Fine. And deke. It also hasn’t really like set in yet that this is my life forever. Like I’m either dying here or living forever” you said. Time to little sister her. “You guys should get a therapist because your thoughts are bad. Like you’ve been through shit” 

“Yeah that’s mainly coulson” 

“But he’s the dad” 

“Well in that case may, the mom, doesn’t do feelings” 

“I’m not saying men can’t do feelings. It more like his job is team dad” you said. 

“Well then it might very likely become you.” She said. 

“I don’t think I’m even eligible to run for team dad” you said jokingly, but you knew what she meant. 

“You might become the therapist” 

“There’s no way I can handle that. Hearing your thoughts has made me not myself. It’s just so traumatizing” 

“But we deal with it” 

“Not as well as you think” 

“You should go back to bed” she said with a sigh. You had talked her out! Yay! Or maybe it was all the trauma you were unconsciously bringing up. Oops. 

“Goodnight” you said and hugged her. You headed back to your carpet covered room and flopped on the bed. Time to sleep.


	6. Vacation pt 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of daisy, yo-yo, and your “vacation”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops sorry I think I accidentally became a daisy and yo-yo shipper (I forget their ship name, lol) for a hot sec.

“Just a little more to the left” you said as daisy shifted the already built hammock in your doorway. She groaned. It wasn’t working. “Just a liiiiiittle more”

“Y/n, why did you build this outside?” 

“Outside has more space” you said. You turned up the dail (that you now usually kept on the lowest setting) and knew what daisy was thinking. 

“If I didn’t love this crazy kid, I would not be helping her” she thought. “I would be ridiculing her and her ridiculous ways” 

You turned the dial back down. That was enough for now. 

When coulson called you guys to say that you’d have to stay there another month (after the first month), the three of you started to change things up a bit. Yo-yo bought more books, Daisy started cooking savory foods, and you, well you weren’t quite sure what you were doing. 

You had torn down the carpet to reveal ugly cement walls (how was this house even built this badly?), so you put the carpet back up. You bought a field hockey stick and some balls to practice playing and occasionally daisy would pass with you by lightly quaking them back. 

Watching tv was a no go however, because you could read what the actors were thinking and the lines they were saying, so it was too much work to tone it down. You had always wanted to sleep in a hammock, so you bought one for your bedroom. But it’s hard to set up. 

“Y/n?” You heard yo-yo say from the stairwell. “I brought tools to unbuild and rebuild it” 

You sighed. You didn’t want to do this. But you have to do what has to be done. 

Sleeping in the hammock isn’t bad at all. It’s actually really nice. And after the first week or two, you stopped falling out whenever you shifted even slightly to another direction. 

You sat across from Yo-yo and turned the dial up on your glasses. The sketchbook in front of you was open to an already finished drawing of deke. It was him in the long sleeve shield shirt. You just really liked looking at it. 

Yo-yo was looking at her book, but she wasn’t reading. Anyone could’ve known this, because she wasn’t turning pages or even moving her eyes along the page. She was thinking about daisy. Her feelings for daisy. What?!

Apparently, she has a crush on daisy! You thought she was with Mack, or it was at least complicated with Mack. And daisy didn’t see yo-yo like that... you think. Yo-yo liked her stubbornness when it came to solving problems. And her sass. That makes sense, because sass is always pretty hot (not daisys, she’s your sister). 

Yo-yo looked up at you and noticed you were staring. Oops. 

“Y/n” she said. It had the hint of a question but wasn’t enough to add a question mark. 

“Yo-yo?” You posed back at her. 

“How high is that dial right now?” She asked you. Even though her tone was steady and calm, her thoughts were crazy. She was nervous and didn’t want you to know. 

You didn’t know how to respond. Or wether to respond. But yo-yo was smart and you knew this. After all, she had become fluent in English in like four weeks, or as you heard from Mack. He definitely still has a thing for her. 

“High enough” you said simply. She told herself to keep it cool. 

“And?” She said expectantly like you were going to judge her. No way! Yo-yo is great. A verbally quiet over thinker with a blazing moral compass. Totally daisys type. 

“And what?” 

“Are you going to say anything else?” 

“Not unless you want me to” You said. “But I’m all for it. You guys would make a great fling. She’s not clingy when you go back to Mack and definitely not jealous. I say go for it! Have fun!” 

“Really?” 

You nodded. There was two weeks left and you sure as hell weren’t going to sleep with daisy. Yo-yo you could get behind but your mind was mainly focused on deke. Plus, daisy gets grumpy and yo-yo would definitely keep her happy. 

In fact, daisy strolled in with a pouty look on her face. 

“What’s wrong?” You asked her. 

“I ran out of sugar” she said. 

Yo-yo practically jumped out of her seat. She was starting to act weird now that she put more thought into the whole daisy thing. “I’ll help!” 

When they returned from the store, they seemed closer. Or maybe that was all in you head. I mean, you thought it took them a long time to just get sugar. You subtly turned up the dial on your glasses. You could tell daisy was itching for a fling. 

Yo-yo sat down on your hammock later that night. Daisy was hand churning ice cream, so you had some time to talk before she expected you downstairs with compliments for her work. 

“Tell me what happened at the store” you said with a sly tone. It was childish, but after nearly two months without the team, you were growing bored. It was surprising, but you were starting to see them as your family. And you had a sneaking suspicion they were too. 

“Some lady saw us and said that we should keep whoever we want to do in our private life” she said. You were shocked, and your face showed it. “But it’s okay because then we laughed about it in the car and-” 

“Guys we have to go” daisy said, bursting into your room. “There are people downstairs” 

You sat up and Yo-yo did too. You grabbed the gun you kept stashed under your nightstand drawer and held it ready at the door in the time daisy could blink. 

“No that was a joke” she said. “Teams here early, I just wanted to scare you”

You shoved her lightly on the way down stairs. “Not funny” 

“Yeah next time id like to not be startled to death!” Yo-yo said. It wasn’t that good of a comeback or add on to what you said, but it sort of worked. Daisy gave her a slight smile and just let it hang in the air.


	7. Movies and more

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You get back from hiding and have a sleepover/movie night with deke! I just watched 7x10 and needed something happy and cute to resolve— no spoilers though.

Of course, you opened your bedroom door to a room full of lemons. Not like a bed, but like the whole room. Everything was AT LEAST two lemons deep. You grinned though. It was nice. A little over the top, but nice nonetheless. 

“Deke” you whined outside of his room. “Let me iiiiiinnnnn” 

He begrudgingly opened the door to you. This was the first time you’ve seen him in two months, and his hair was wild. And he had surprisingly handsome stubble on his face. You never really thought that deke could grow a beard. Or even forget to shave one if he had it.

“Wha?” He asked, rubbing his eyes. 

“Can I sleep in your room? Someone filled mine with lemons” you asked. You were really going out on a limb here, but you doubted he would refuse. Sleepovers are fun! 

“Uh yeah sure I guess” he said and opened the door wider. What happened to him? He’s usually so not chill. He’s too chaotic to be tired. Well, at least you thought. 

“What happened to you?” You asked him and got into the neat side of his bed. He went back to lying down on his rumpled side. You suddenly remember you could just read his mind and turned up the dial on your glasses. 

“Just keep it cool. Play it cool. We discussed this, deke! Be cool. Just chill. Don’t spend every waking second acting like all you could think about for the last two months was that kiss. And the day she’d come back. Just don’t do it. It’s so easy not to do it. Just stop thinking about her lips and her hips and the fact that she can read your mind. Just stop. Just turn it off. Just shut it down. Just think about something else” his mind was going a hundred miles a minute and it was a wild effing ride. “It’s so easy, see: Christmas bark. Just white chocolate and normal chocolate and crushed up peppermints all swirled together into one delicious thing daisy makes all the time. So easy. See! Ah shit we’re back to y/n again and her hair you want to just see if it’s as soft as it looks. Should you touch it? No. Don’t do that. Don’t be weird. Just go to bed. How do I normally sleep, upside down? On the ground? Would it be weird if I just rolled out of bed and fake snored like it was no big deal she was here? It’s no big deal at all. But the way she understands you so well just makes her so much hotter. How does that even work? She’s the first one on the team to not think I’m a complete whacko. It’s like she knows it’s not my fault I’m weird, and still likes me. And you’ve barely talked about your past but-“ 

You put a hand on his shoulder. His thoughts froze in their tracks. You laughed a little bit. You smiled. He was super cute nervous. 

“You know I had to turn up the dial to figure out if you were even excited I was here again” you said with a smile and a small laugh. You liked to say you turned up the dial instead of read his mind because it sounds less aggressive. And more like something you could control. 

“You read my thoughts?” 

“Yes. And they were a douzy” you said. “And don’t say I read your mind, unless you want me to ~correct~ you again” 

“Um- what?” He said, super flustered. What you had said sounded waaaaaay dirtier than what you had meant it. 

“That was a weird- whatever” you said and gave up trying to explain yourself. He didn’t need any explanation. His thoughts were going crazy again and you just wanted him to relax. To have fun. 

You had an idea: movies! Although you personally despised most, you liked sitting next to deke in your pajamas. 

“Let’s watch a movie” you suggested and sat up in his bed. You swung you feet to the ground and started to leave. He was still lying paralyzed in bed. “Are you coming?” 

“Yup yeah yes definitely” he said and scurried out of the door. 

Standing in the kitchen, you studied his face. The dial was down, so it was just your analysis of him and not his worries. He looked worried, though. Like he was bracing for some monster to pop out of the microwave. 

You opened the microwave and fluffed the popcorn before pouring into a bowl. You leaned against the counter and popped a few into your mouth and didn’t bother to finish chewing before you started talking. 

“Can I kiss you again?” You asked, very cut to the chase. What’s the point in being all sly about it? You wanted it to happen. He probably wanted it to happen. I mean, that’s why you asked.

“What?” He asked you like he suddenly woke up from a dream. He just looked at your face. 

“I mean I definitely won’t if you say no, and only will if you say yes because consent is sexy, man” you said. You did a pretend body roll to lighten the mood, even though you were 110% serious. 

“Oh I guess yeah” he said and still looked stunned. And then it dawned on him. “Wait definitely yes. Please”

“Okay let me finish chewing” you said and started to chew the popcorn really fast. Not a good move. Now you just looked like a rabid squirrel trying to eat all the nuts before they expire. Yikes. 

You took slow steady steps toward where he was and cupped his face, looking up into his starry eyes. He took a sharp breath in and you brought your lips to his. He wrapped his arms around your waist and you leaned into him on your tiptoes. 

“Well, hello” daisy said from the doorway. You pulled apart and looked at her smirking. 

“So what movie did you want to watch?” You asked deke, and completely ignoring daisy watching you two, you patted him on the chest like it was a completely normal thing to do. 

“Ooh I was thinking like back to the future or like I don’t know. What do you want to watch?” He replied as you casually strolled out of the kitchen, leaving daisy to cringe at how “normal” you were acting to overcompensate for the fact she walked in on you two kissing. Oops? 

As soon as you made it to the hallway you both doubled over in laughter. Why was daisy even up in this time of night? 

“Be safe, children! You don’t want to make Jemma a great grandma” she hollered after you two. 

“Daisy?” Jemma said in her British accent from some hidden corner. Luckily, she didn’t notice you two, or it would’ve been more embarrassing, somehow. 

But Jemma only made it funnier, leaving you and deke to scurry off with your popcorn spilling everywhere. It reminded you of having a weird conversation with your friends on your way to class and realizing a teacher was behind you and heard the whole thing. But the memories were bittersweet. 

“Yes, This one! You’ve never seen Star Wars?!” You said at deke, spilling the last remaining popcorn pieces into his bed. It was like the lemons but worse: smaller and crunchier. 

“No I haven’t” he said and are the popcorn from the bed. “What? Is it like some big deal?” 

“YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!” You practically screamed. “Almost all of my pajamas are Star Wars themed!” 

“That’s what’s on your pajamas?” 

“Yeeeeeeeees!” You said. You pressed play and almost immediately he started asking questions. 

“Why are there yellow words-“ he started but you put your hand on his face and (gently) shmooshed it around. Great, now you hand was covered in deke slobber because he had to be a child and stick his tongue out to lick you. 

“Eeeew!” You said and wiped your hand on his arm and shirt. This was definitely not an excuse to rub your hand all over his toned arms and chest. Nothing like that excuse can be found here. You must be mistaken, because you just ~don’t~ do things like thaaaat. 

“Kiss?” He asked you, and you gave him a quick peck. 

“Now watch” you said and wrapped his arm tighter around you and snuggled into his side. Eventually you got tired of the double dialog the glasses couldn’t block and closed your eyes, burrowing deeper into deke. 

“You don’t want to watch? We could do something else” deke said, slightly worried. He shouldn’t be worried. You are really enjoying yourself. I mean, imagining doing this with deke while you were doodling was one thing but actually being here was another. It was so much better than any fantasy. 

“No I just can’t block their thoughts” you said. He deserved to know the truth. 

“You can read through the video? That’s so cool” he said and shifted o face you in his excitement, causing you to slide down and hit your head on the popcorn bowl. 

“Ow” you said, even though it didn’t really hurt. “I never thought of it as cool, only as boring and hard” 

“It’s like your own behind the scenes YouTube video but in real time” he said, picking popcorn out of your hair. 

“You know what YouTube is and not what Star Wars is?” You asked him in mock astonishment. “What the hell kind of future do you come from?” 

“Bobo taught her about YouTube before he left” he explained. “He never said anything about Star Wars” 

“I’ve heard Jemma say their thing is more Star Trek, which makes no sense that it can’t be both” you said, lying down with deke. You felt the crunch of popcorn cornels under you body as you pulled up the blanket and rolled over to face him. 

“Well we can watch the next one tomorrow” he said. You were at a peace together. It was a comfortable silence, and a relationship where you could sleep in the same bed without feeling pressure to do anything. 

“Why lemons?” You asked him. Before now it had been an unspoken thing that he put the lemons in your room. You knew he knew you knew, but you never acknowledged it before now. It just felt like the right time. 

“In the lighthouse, well future lighthouse you would show people you liked them by getting them a lemon” he said simply. You loved that there was never any bullshit, except maybe when he was nervous, but that all seemed to fade away after a few hours. Your past relationships were so messy, this was a relief. And weird, new. But good weird. Like the lemons. 

“But where do you get all the lemons?” You asked him. You just really didn’t know how he could get so many lemons. How many trips did he take from the elevator? How much does it cost to buy like 20 lemons a week? 

“Mack gives me twenty dollar allowance for stuff for missions, mostly undercover. But I usually go to my lemon dealer” 

“They’re not drugs, deke” you said playfully, nuzzling your nose against his. 

“Well then why is everyone addicted to our lemonade?” 

“Because we make so much the only way to get more fridge space is to drink it” duh. 

“I guess.” 

A beat passed as you just stared at him. You had taken the glasses off when you had lied down. 

“Kiss?” You asked. 

“Kiss” he resolved, kissing you slowly but with a touch of warmth and character you had never felt before him.


	8. Prom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team goes to prom! With an unexpected twist that not even I saw coming (oops).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is like the longest fix I’ve ever written! Also- I didn’t see this “plot” line coming at the beginning so I’d rate this chapter and the next like pg-13. Don’t worry though! It’ll be resolved in the next chapter because I can’t handle it either so...

The kitchen was surprisingly busy for seven in the morning. This was a very late start to people’s days by shields standards. Daisy was pouring coffee, yo-yo was talking to Mack at the table and Jemma was playing scrabble with Coulson, and they both looked seconds away from flipping the board. 

You pulled out a bar stool next to daisy as may walked in sweaty from a run. Daisy was totally staring at yo-yo. You turned up the dial and figured out she actually was looking forward to the fling she felt they would have inevitably become if the hiding continued. You dialed it back down to engage in a real, two sided conversation. 

“So you and yo-yo?” You asked her. She begrudgingly poured you a cup of coffee too. 

“Nothing happened” she said blandly. She took a sip and looked at me with a hint of glare in her eyes. This was her don’t test me face. 

“You know she would’ve don’t it, too” you told her. 

“Yeah and you know this how?” She snorted. “Right, you can’t keep to yourself and read everyone’s minds” 

“I keep the dial down almost all the time” you told her, defensively. It was very, very hard to listen to everyone all the time. This team had so many traumas and complex pasts to unpack in a single lifetime. In fact, some of these people lived on different planets, or something called the Framework, which seemed to screw everyone up, and no one has explained it yet. But at least deke wasn’t there (?). 

“We have a new mission” Mack said, coming in with a pile of papers and deke on his heels. “Prom” 

“Prom?” Coulson asked, looking up from his intense game of scrabble. 

“Yes. Prom” he said. “Hydra is planning on taking some student at this prom, so we’re there to protect him. Do not engage with hydra unless absolutely necessary” 

The group just nodded. This wasn’t the weirdest mission they’d have been on, I guess. But I bet it’ll be a fun one! 

Back in your room, instead of a pile of lemons on your bed, you found a dress and shoes on your bed. 

It was a burnt orange prom dress, mid calf length, with some tulle ruffles on the a-line skirt, and from the belt line the top was a very deep scoop neck (that didn’t even meet, it just went down at an angle to the belt line) and thinned our on your shoulders. The back was horizontal strings from one side to another. This was exactly the right color of orange for you. 

“Whatcha doing in my room, Y/n?” Daisy asked from behind you. You turned around to look at her.

“Thought it was mine” you said, leaving her room sadder than before. This is exactly the dress you want. “My bad” 

Back in your room, you saw the lemons in pyramids on the floor. Deke was sitting there, pulling them from your bed and putting them onto the snacks. On your bed was an even better dress than the orange one you found on daisys. This dress appeared to be silk, and also an a-line dress. It went to the floor this time. It was wire with palm sized abstract boats all over. You scanned the whole dress and there didn’t seem to be a pattern. It must have been hand drawn, every inch. The neckline was a simple sweetheart neckline, and made of plain white lace. There was also a belt, separating shirt from skirt, which was embroidered, with golden yellow edges and unique sea patterns in between, around an inch and a half thick. 

“Do you like it?” Deke asked and you came back to reality, him standing next to you staring at you in the same way you were staring at this beautiful dress that was so utterly and completely you. 

“Yes” you said, breathless. You reached out for his arm to loop yours around and he gladly gave it to you. 

“I have a dark grey suit so it doesn’t clash” he said. “Y’know, all soft colors and all” 

“It’s perfect. You’re perfect” you said. It almost felt like you said I love you, but those weren’t the words that came out of your mouth. But somehow “you’re perfect” had the same weight. Whatever. No going back. “But...” 

“But what?” He asked, springing you two back into your playful and flirtatious ways. 

“You never officially asked me to prom” you said with a sly smile. “I don’t want a promposal, but like, just ask” 

“What’s a promposal?” He asked. 

“Oh I have one heck of a Pinterest board to show you on our way there” you said, smiling at his cute innocence of earths high school culture. 

“Well, y/n, will you make me the happiest man on earth and go to prom with me?” He asked, but only once he had gotten down on one knee (it was a whole thing- don’t ask)

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” You squealed, doing your best impression of your high school self, although you had never been asked to prom. But, there’s no room for sad reminiscing when you’re going to prom with deke! “Kisses?” 

He stood up and kissed you, just like the last one from last night. There was something special about the way you kissed. As if it was more than that. It was a statement and a question and a declaration of your togetherness (in some sense) all at once. 

You stood in the elevator to the hangar with may, Jemma, yo-yo , and daisy. Daisy looked great in her orange dress, may had a sparkly silver one, which you never would have guessed she would actually wear. Jemma has an emerald green one that made her hair look even more beautiful than it did before (if that was even somehow possible). Yo-yo had a denim jumpsuit with folds and pockets and buckled in just the right places. 

You stepped out and saw Coulson waiting for may in a navy suit, Mack waiting for yo-yo in an outfit that was indescribable as anything but perfectly complimenting Yo-yos dress. Jemma had no one, but some part of you knew she wasn’t alone, just waiting for someone, a soulmate perhaps, to come back. And you knew this without even having to touch your glasses, if whose light pink tourtise shell went surprisingly well with your dress.

Daisy was the first onto the quinjet, not wanting to hang around longer than nessesary near yo-yo and Mack. You took dekes hand in front of the whole team, and walked proudly up the ramp to your seats. 

In the high school gym, bad memories flooded back into you mind, memories of hiding under the bleachers from the popular kids, and sitting with your friends who weren’t the best, but definitely weren’t the kids who spiked the punch (which is what they were blamed for, and therefore you by association). 

“Let’s take photos!” Deke said excitingly and lead you by hand to the photo set up. You took a couple more serious ones and a couple really funny ones. You would enjoy looking back on photos of you and Deke back to back, holding imaginary pistols. 

When the photos were done, the bad memories started to close in on you again. It was all too much. 

Somehow, even without powers, deke could sense your unease. And it wasn’t even because this was your first mission back from hiding. He took your arm and headed to the dance floor. This way, you could let off steam by dancing, while having good visibility on the exits. 

It had already been deemed Daisy was going to attempt to befriend the person you were protecting. He was a chaperone, placed as a teacher in this school on an undercover mission. Got a little too close with his hydra counterparts though, and needed to be protected by fellow shield people. 

From the dance floor, you could see her grab punch (that looked disgusting) and stand a few feet closer to the guy. You and everyone else were only needed when hydra actually shows up, and it was Daisys job to make sure he trusted you when they did. And all without blowing your cover until you get to the quinjet. 

The music was loud and the glasses were barely helping. You really wanted to have a fun time with Deke at this prom, but right now it didn’t look like that was going to happen. You yelled into his ear you were going to the bathroom and wiggled your way through the sea of sweaty teenagers. 

Near the bathroom there was a bench that you sat on, pulling your knees up to your chest. You closed your eyes, waiting for a signal in you earpiece to move again. Something told you someone sat down next to you, and it was that teacher guy. 

“You know adults usually aren’t allowed in prom” he said and leaned back. He had warm brown hair and a face of freckles. 

“I’m a chaperone” you said. You were not prepared for this. “From another school” 

“Nice try” he said and looked at you. Luckily the ear piece was on the other side. He leaned in close so only you could hear. “I know you’re shield” 

You pretended to tuck your hair behind your ear, turning up the dial on you glasses. Some red flags went off. Play it cool, you thought, he’s not the mind reader, you are. 

“I’m sorry, but I’m what?” You asked him, playing stupid. He was already contacted by hydra, and on their side now. And he wanted to take you. But where was unclear. Convert you to hydra? Or kidnap you? By the looks of this guy, probably both. 

“Don’t play stupid with me, y/n” he said. “I know you’re a mind reader. I overheard some of your friends” 

“A mind reader?” You asked him, becoming more and more nervous. Shit was going to go down. And soon. “Those are fictional” 

“I said stop playing stupid!” He said and hit the seat next to his legs with his fists. Well, that escalated quickly. 

You stood up to go back to the rest of the dance people. You didn’t know what to say, so you just left. It’s not like you owe him an explanation. If you see a creepy person, do your best to not talk to them. 

You made it a few steps closer to the door when you felt a rough hand grasp your wrist. You could feel callouses under a layer of grime. Does he not know how to wash his hands? Gross. 

You turned around and took your hand back. He punched you in the stomach before you could block him. You knee-ed him in the crotch and he doubled over. You saw may running down the hallway, covering her ears. Maybe you had projected your thoughts to her in a last effort without knowing it? Hopefully. 

She pulled out an icee and aimed it at him, writhing around in the ground like a stepped on worm. You fled into the gym and immediately a black bag was shoved over your head. You felt strong hands around your waist and your feet leave the ground. Your stomach hurt when they folded you over their shoulder like a sack of potatoes. 

“She knows too much” you heard the person carrying you say. A door opened and it was much colder outside. 

“Y/n!” May called and then you heard gunshots. Had literally no one else noticed what was going on or was the whole school watching you get kidnapped and no one help you? 

You heard gunshots closer to you, probably them shooting at May or whoever else from the team noticed you were gone. And then you passed out when you hit the inside of a car trunk. Shit.


	9. Going going gone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reader tries to adjust to new life back from the mission, but doesn’t adapt as well as she hoped. 
> 
> Warnings: explicit language, ptsd (not very well written)

“I don’t have my powers anymore, Jemma” you told her in the lab. 

“Well I can hopefully fix that” she said surprisingly cheerily. “The glasses you had were also monitoring brain activity and sending them back here. I have all the data and figured out a way to reverse it” 

“How?” You asked her. 

“If I told you, it wouldn’t make more sense” she said. You shrugged it off. “I’ll get you when it’s ready” 

You left the lab. You weren’t too sciencely inclined, so most of the stuff didn’t make too much sense to you. But what did make sense was movement. And guilt. You felt bad for dragging the team into whatever this is, and you were determined to never have that happen again. From now on, you take care of your shit. No one else. 

Abs were the absolute worst part of trying to be fitter. It was horrible. You had worked out almost daily as a civilian, but abs were never your strong suit. And they certainly weren’t now, either.

Eventually you gave up and moved on to field hockey. This was the sport you loved since you were eleven, tagging along with your friends to the field after school to learn how to play. You were varsity with those friends your freshman year. 

You had brought your stick back with you, and your bucket of balls too. You found a brick wall in the training area and knocked over the bucket. The balls came cascading out, their orange and glossy selves pouring over one another. 

Drives. This was never your favorite move, but definitely the best for letting our anger. Or guilt. Or whatever you were feeling all the time now. You took a step and swung at the ball on the ground, breaking you wrists perfectly and keeping you head and shoulders level, the technique that took you at least eight years to perfect. 

You did more and more, the first ball bouncing right back to your stick each time. 

Step. Swing. Thud. Step. Swing. Thud. Memories from the cave came trickling back in. Step. Swing. Thud. Rough hands ripping your pretty dress off. Step. The clicks of the briefcase. Swing. Gas seeping through the walls. Thud. 

You pushed harder, making your center of balance lower and lower the harder you hit the balls. Step. Swing. Thud. Step Swing thud. Stepswingthud. Stepswingthud. Stepswibgthud stepswingthud stepswingthud. 

Then, a crack. You looked to where you were hitting the balls to see a couple bricks lightly cracked. And one was basically falling out. I guess that was the noise you heard. Maybe it’s time to move on to something else. 

Push ups. Another thing you’ve never been able to do very well. Your best was twelve in a row, but most of the time the max was seven. 

You got into position on the floor and started. You hit five, then ten, and when you were at your breaking point of twelve, more flashbacks came. The feeling slap of the robots hand stung your cheek. Fifteen. Another slap. And then another. And a fourth. You hit twenty. You felt the same black bag go over your head, but nothing was there. You were still doing push ups. Thirty. 

“Hey y/n” May said from the doorway, obviously passing by. But you didn’t see her. You kept pushing. 

The hand just kept hitting you. You couldn’t see because of the bag that wasn’t there. 

“Stop hitting me” you accidentally said out loud. You were just thinking it earlier, but it slipped out. You were begging. You weren’t sure you still had a face. 

If you weren’t not looking, or blinded by the “bag”, you would’ve seen May turn to Deke, who had been standing in the corner, with your water bottle full of electrolyte water, in case you decided to stop. 

“Y/n, you know were training at four, you don’t have to be here” May said to you. You didn’t hear her. Instead you heard them asking you “one last time” to read the photo. 

“I told you, I’m not telling you” you said with gritted teeth. 

“She’s been like this for two hours” Deke told May. She had a concerned look on her face, but then she left. It’s not like you saw her or anything. 

Soon after, your arms gave out and you collapsed onto yourself. Fun. You went back to your room and peeled open a book on theoretical physics. It was really hard to read, but you made it through the first chapter, taking careful notes on everything. The less stupid you were on your next mission, the better. 

“Hey y/n” Coulson said in your doorway. You stopped tapping your pencil and turned in your chair to face him. “Can we talk?” 

“I’m sorry I dragged you in to this. Your team doesn’t have to help me” you said seriously. You know this was all your fault, and it was unfair to ask them to help you. But coulson didn’t see it that way. He just looked baffled. And then sad. 

“We dragged you into this. If we hadn’t brought you on the mission, it would have been fine” he said. 

“I could have defended myself, broken out of the car, or not gotten kidnapped” you said. Why did he look so sad? Was he pitying you? 

“Don’t be silly” Yo-yo said from the doorway once Coulson had sat down on your bed. “Hydra is at fault here” 

You just looked away. This was a mistake. This was one huge mistake. You weren’t supposed to be here, you were supposed to be in your apartment drawing photos for children’s books. You weren’t supposed to be on missions or getting tortured or any of this. This was daisys home. You were just a visitor. Or an intruder. 

“I have to leave” you said to Coulson and then you stood up, turning your face away. “I don’t belong here” 

“None of belong. That’s why we’re here” Coulson said. 

“I’m not one of you like you think I am! I wasn’t some rebel who stole guns from the government, I’m not some shield legend, I’m not a hacker, or a genius.” You burst. You just couldn’t take it anymore. 

“Who says?” Coulson said calmly, and you could tell he was experienced in calming people down. He was well versed. But his calm only made you angrier. Shouldn’t he be mad? Mad at you? For quitting, for putting the team at risk? 

“Says me!” You said, yelling. “Before I was here, doing this, I was a children’s book illustrator. I drew cartoons of frogs in suits, having tea parties!” 

“You can change. We aren’t the same as when we got here” he said calmly. This was exasperating. How could he be so calm? Why doesn’t he see you as a disgrace? “Why do you think you don’t belong?” 

“Because this isn’t me! I adapt all the time for wherever I am. I was tossed around foster homes with Daisy for a while, but then we were more adoptable when we were seperated, so they tore us apart. And then I lost myself! I changed into whoever I thought the people wanted, so I could stay longer. But that never worked. And then I became an adult, put myself through school at night, and was finally me. And now I’m not me, I’m some fucked up agent!” 

You stormed out of the room, and normally you would have cried, but you had molded into this rock hard, emotionless, traumatized agent who doesn’t do that; you became someone who doesn’t let themselves feel. 

“Hey, y/n” deke said when he saw you flurry by. His statement was innocent, he didn’t know. “Where you going?” 

“Home” you said.


	10. Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a memory of your pre agent days.

You drew back the plain white curtains of your bedroom to let the wonderful, sunny day into your room. The pink sunrise washed waves of color onto your belongings, and your mood. There really isn’t a better way to start the day, is there? You may not have much, but you will always have the sunrise. 

To get ready for your day, you stepped into the steamy shower, breathing in the lavender shower salts you dusted the bottom of the tub with each time. You let the hot water pour over your soft skin, and you let the bubbles linger. 

Rushing was never really your style, so you woke up early to take your time. You made your way back to your room, taking your time as you observed all the little beautiful simplicities of life. The dust in the corners of the hall, the uniqueness of each board of wood on the floor, and the misty morning atmosphere. 

Living in New York City, there was always something going on. And always someone going somewhere. There’s always someone grumpy, someone happy, and someone nervous. Walking along the streets, your navy blue skirt swaying behind you and coffee in hand, you observed the people. Dog walkers, commuters, and smokers alike were out. Going somewhere. Doing something. Just like you. You were one small part of this big puzzle, and you absolutely loved it. 

“Hey y/n, I put the files on your desk when your ready for them” your boss said, and then retreated back into her office. The great part about working in illustration and literature, is that everyone is introverts. Like you. You liked to be surrounded by people, doing other things, being in the background. You liked to observe, and to mostly be left alone. 

Like most days a couple files were on your desk, each Manila folder containing a script and the notes about what they want as illustrations. A few old files for revisions, and a couple YA covers to design. The sleeves of your grey blue shirt with a bicycle pattern ran along the papers as you highlighted the notes and prioritized scripts. When you leaned back, your chunky gold necklace fell back against your chest, the weight of it reminding you you weren’t tired yet, just taking a break. Only a break. 

After work, you wrapped your jacket around you a little tighter and walked to the library. The wind tunnels in New York were killer, and if you were facing the wrong way on the way to work, your hair and lipstick would be one. 

In the library you were surrounded by knowledge. And warmth. And people in the background. You searched through the yellow pages books, and thought of all the people who read them, all of their stories. Then, you went back to finding books for you to read. 

On the way back home, you thought about the lasagna that waited for you in the fridge, all nice and meal prepped from the weekend when you and your friends meal prepped. You had gotten your life together, and you were liking it. The routine of things, the simplicity, the room for creativity without risk. This is what you wanted forever. 

You also thought about whether you would read in peace, or watch tv and scroll though instagram. If you read, you would finish your books sooner, which means another trip to the library sooner. That wasn’t a bad thing; you loved the library. But if you watched tv, you would end up scrolling. And that meant liking the photos of your friends out clubbing or whatnot. They always invited you, but you almost always declined. 

You settled on reading, so instead of scrolling while you watched, you scrolled while waiting for your lasagna to heat up. And the scrolling lead to seeing a Care Of vitamins ad, which lead to you opening the fish oil bottle, which lead to you being enclosed in some sort of shell. This was not your average Tuesday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you’ve read this far, thank you! And I’m sorry this got so angsty! I really meant for this to be fluff, but then it took a turn and it’s taking its time to go back :/
> 
> Please comment if you’d like to see more fluff or you like the angst. I think it’ll be fluff bc the angst is making me kinda sad ngl


End file.
